Aryna Sabalenka posts a video of the practice court situation at WTA Finals: “2 practice courts til Saturday. 1 stringer on site.” Wow. 2 practice courts for the rest of the week for the elite women of our sport. What is this.
Players stuck practicing in hotel at 2023 WTA Finals due to unfinished stadium
WTAFriday, 27 October 2023 at 13:16
The WTA Finals are set to begin on October 29, but the stadium remains unfinished just two days prior to the day that players are supposed to start battling it out for the season-ending championship title.
As a result of this, WTA Finals qualifiers such as Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina have been seen practicing on the hotel courts as they are still unable to access the actual stadium. Meanwhile, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka shed more light on the situation in a video on social media with the caption "2 practice courts til Saturday. 1 stringer on site."
This has led many fans to express concerns over the state of the stadium, with some worrying that it won't be ready in time for the WTA Finals. However, reports are now suggesting that it will be made available for players to practice just one day before the group stage matches are scheduled to start.
WTA Finals 2023: How did this happen?
Cancun was announced as the location for the 2023 WTA Finals in September, after a lot of controversy around the possibility of Saudi Arabia hosting the tournament in the country's capital city Riyadh. Other possible locations included Ostrava, Cluj Napoca and Washington DC.
After Cancun was confirmed, the WTA revealed that it was spending $6 million on building a new stadium for the Finals, with tournament director Gustavo Santoscoy explaining that it will have a capacity of 4,000 with two alternate practice fields in the hotel accommodation.
"It will be a stadium that can be assembled like in the past finals, it will be in the hotel zone on the land that the State government is providing us, at kilometer 15, in front of the hotels, it will be a main stadium for four thousand people and we have 2 alternate fields in the hotels where the players will be practicing," he said at the time.
While the hotel practice courts have been built, the stadium itself still remains under construction.
The tournament will begin with a round-robin stage, with two singles matches being played daily until the final. The top two from each group will progress to the semi-finals on November 4, and the tournament will conclude on November 5.
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